We at the Oregon Tea Party congratulate Donald Trump on his recent victory. Our founders designed the presidency to have both solemn responsibilities and constitutional limits on executive powers. We hope President-elect Trump will demonstrate reverence for both.
OTP is committed to holding all elected representatives, regardless of party, accountable to the three principles that have made America great: constitutionally limited government, free markets, and fiscally responsible government.
To that end, we hope that Mr. Trump will honor his campaign promises to repeal Obamacare, appoint constitutionalist justices, reduce onerous regulations that restrict economic growth, enforce immigration laws and border security, reduce spending and taxes, and remove the boot of Big Government from the neck of the American people. We remain steadfastly dedicated to holding this administration accountable, as we have for his predecessor.
We encourage Mr. Trump to speak out and condemn the racist alt-right movement, which has sought to use his election as a platform for promoting white nationalism instead of liberty and limited government.
We also call upon Secretary Clinton and President Obama to condemn the extreme fringe of their supporters, who are currently causing civil unrest all over the country.
Out of concern for the safety of all Oregonians, we urge Governor Brown and Mayor Hale to restore law and order and refrain from offering encouragement to lawbreakers who disturb the peace in the name of political causes they personally espouse.
For nearly a decade, the Tea Party has repeatedly proven that it is possible to make your voice heard without law-breaking, violence, arrests, stand-offs with police, hurting local businesses, and burdening taxpayers with the costs of increased law enforcement and the restoration of destroyed property. Holding city streets hostage is not a legitimate form of protest, and should not be tolerated as such.
As we seek to put the contentious 2016 election behind as and move forward, may we be reminded of the words of President Reagan: “The crisis we are facing …[requires] our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God’s help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. And after all, why shouldn’t we believe that? We are Americans.”